Last time I used my roommate's pickup, I noticed there was a squeaking noise coming from the engine. The same kind of squeaking noise my car made when it needed a new serpentine belt. So my roommate made an appointment for me to take his car to the dealer for service today. (It also needed some repairs to the passenger seat belt.)

I start up the engine this morning and it starts making a horrendous racket. I quickly backed up a couple feet so I could get to the hood and killed the motor. I was hoping maybe it was some ice on the fan blades, but I quickly spotted the problem: the serpentine belt had shredded itself!

While my roommate called AAA, I cut the remnants of the belt off the pulleys, backed the car out and parked it in the driveway where it could be easily picked up. Without the belt, the truck can be driven a short distance, but without the alternator and cooling fan, you won't get very far, and without the power steering pump, it requires a lot of muscle.

After an hour or so, a flatbed tow truck showed up, then promptly got stuck in a snowbank trying to turn around. They had to tie off to a tree and winch themselves out. Not a very auspicious start.

They got the truck loaded without incident, but I had to ride in the middle of a very crowded tow truck cab to get a ride to the dealer.

I get there and they tell me they'll have to order a new belt and give me a laundry list of other problems. I thought they meant they would be keeping the truck for a a day or two so I asked if they had a loaner car. They gave me a Toyota Matrix.

This car was obviously designed for little tiny Japanese people, because I managed to smash my knee into a molded plastic piece on the door every single time I got in the car. They couldn't have positioned it any better for maximum injury if they'd had my measurements.

I finished with my shopping (Smack! OW! Dammit!) and I'm about halfway home when I get a phone call. They're done with the truck and it's ready for my to come get it. Uh, what? It turned out they were just going to do all the other work, return the truck, then make another appointment when the parts came in. $1200 later I'm back on my way home.

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I used to own a Matrix. It was a 2005 model and fit me fine. I'm 6' 4".

Also, everything is easier under Windows! I used Ubuntu for about a year between XP and Windows 7 (I refused to use Vista). Even after that time, I still didn't really get the hang of it. It was quite a bit faster though, that's for sure. I'm tempted to give it a go again, especially since I'll need to get more comfortable with it if I'm going to be writing software that will run on embedded Linux for a project I'm working on. Been playing with the idea of getting a second laptop for development purposes. That could be a good excuse to try.

I dual boot on my system. I like Ubuntu. It's far more responsive than Windows. I will say getting my wireless USB dongle working with it was a royal pain. It seems a lot closer to being ready for prime time than the last time I messed with Linux though.

On the plus side, it sounds as if it was just the belt failing. My last car started making squeaking noises which made me think the belt needed replacing. There was some regular maintenance due soon, so I figured I'd get it replaced then.

Driving home from work one day, it started making a hell of a noise and warning lights came on. I limped a block or two to a gas station with a garage. Figured the belt had failed. It turned out to be the harmonic compensator that'd failed. Joy.

I was a little surprised at just how much mechanics gouge for something as simple as a serpentine belt. I replaced the belt myself on my Caprice and it cost about $25 (and that's only because I bought the higher quality belt, they had cheaper). The dealer charged $85 just for the belt for the truck, labor was about that much as well.